How LG turned an early adopter into an active detractor
Early adopters can be the key to a technology product’s success. They take the risk of buying a product “unseen” and praise its values despite the flaws that first generation products often have. That word, praise, is particularly important here. Early adopters don’t just happily use a product; they evangelize it to their friends, family, and social networks.
When you win over an early adopter you have a user who will go to bat for the product and the brand.
They’ll not only generate that initial revenue that you need to prove your product’s viability; they set the stage for the early majority and the late majority by de-risking the idea of trying something new.
It is worthwhile for a brand to take care of their early adopters. When they don’t, those early adopters become active detractors. They are just as passionate and vocal as they were before, but now they are determined to warn people away from your product.
Here’s a story of how LG changed me from an early adopter of a sweet new piece of technology into an active detractor, not just of this specific product, but of the brand in general.
I bought the LG Watch Sport, an Android smart watch built in conjunction with Google with a specific focus on activity tracking and fitness.
I’m training for a big race, the first that I’ve ever run. I’m very tech-motivated when it comes to exercise, and this was a treat for myself (and a gift from my wife) to help me stay on track. It does all sorts of neat stuff, but that’s not worth getting into.
You see, it has some flaws. Flaws that deter the early- and late-majority, but flaws that I was willing to overlook as an early adopter. The watch is big, but I didn’t care. The battery life is less-than-ideal, but I could live with that. It doesn’t support my cell phone provider, but that’s a minor hiccup. It did what I wanted it to do, and I showed it off with gusto to training partners, friends, family, and co-workers. I sung its praises and downplayed its flaws. I brought this watch into the consideration set of folks thinking about the Apple Watch 2. I was doing what all early adopters do.
But there was a problem that I couldn’t overlook. The GPS accuracy was bad. It wasn’t working the way it should. I took to Reddit to determine whether or not this was a wide-spread problem. I wrote a Medium article. I tried other tracking apps, changing the GPS recording frequency, manual recalibration; all of those things that early adopters do.
And, finally, I contacted LG support about the issue. Their solution was to send the watch back to LG down in Texas so they could diagnose and hopefully fix the problem. So, on June 8th, after having the watch for a month, I sent it back to LG.
The process wasn’t ideal, but I was willing to deal with the hassle of shipping and being without my watch because I’m an early adopter and this is what we do. LG received the watch, diagnosed the problem, recalibrated the GPS, and sent it back my way.
I received my watch on July 1st. I took it out for a run, and, lo and behold, the GPS was more accurate and the problem seemed to have been addressed. I took it out for two runs and then, on July 4th, the watch died. It stopped charging and an overheated battery icon appeared on the screen.
I contacted support, again, who asked me to send it to LG, again, which I did, again, on July 7th. LG even apologized and opened a “multiple device failure” ticket, telling me that someone would reach out to me in the next two business days to address my situation.
Time passed. There was no follow-up on my ticket. I followed up and was again told that someone would be in touch. That has not happened.
Then, on July 22nd, over two weeks after sending my watch to LG, I was told that there was “ Liquid damage detected or corrosion caused by liquid,” and that they would not repair the watch.
I have two issues with this. First, the LG Watch Sport is waterproof. Specifically, it is IP68 rated, which means that it can be submerged up to 1.5 meters for up to 30 minutes.
Second, my watch was kept dry.
Now, I sweat when I run, but I don’t sweat that much. Nor did I drop my watch in the toilet or the bathtub, as is the fate with so many phones. Regardless, those missteps wouldn’t have been enough! In order to hit the IP68 limit I would have had to walk into a pool with it on and then do a handstand under water for 30 minutes to hit that requirement.
In the four days that I had my watch I did not do any of those things.
At this point I have still not heard back from customer service about the “multiple device failure” ticket.
I contacted LG after the diagnosis and explained the situation and the response was “We can ask the repair department, but they never reevaluate liquid damage.” There was no empathy. There was no expressed desire to make things right. I was told that there was a near-zero percent chance of LG taking steps to make this right.
LG Support, by the way, has had my watch in their possession for longer than I have, and I’m the one who paid for it.
So this is how LG turned me from an early adopter into an active detractor. And this extends beyond just their Watch Sport, now. LG was immediately removed from our consideration set when appliance shopping this weekend. TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, phones; the entire brand is damaged by this experience.
Don’t buy an LG Watch Sport. The quality of the watch is sub-par. It has flaws that make it difficult to use on a day-to-day basis. And their support process will prioritize the business over you, the customer, every time.
There’s always the possibility that LG will make this right, but my confidence in that happening is low. If they do, I’ll let you know.
